Charlotte home and Democrat., 1887-01-14
Old sharonnA New Years skstsh.

BY the Editor of the NasAville Christian Advo-
-rs3sa sd lcates Dr.. Fitzgerald.l e-se6stt
Old Sharon 10 q thing Of che past. Il
W asi methodist meeting-hease sixty
years ago. 1t was built and named By
men who read their Bibles, aud liked to
take Bible-nsmesd DIR neheir churches and
their children. In ascircls roands Sharon
were Carmel, Penial, Bethlehem, and
Bethesds,s aud 1.-THE country wass full of
Elijahs, Daniels, Marys, lMarthas, hRuths,
aud Rachels. The Old Side Baptists and
the Methodists rnlede the region. There
was thin sprinkling of Pres6y tefians aud
Episc0palians in or near the email towns,
and here land there was o plump aud placid
Quaker theed aud thoud the sneighbors,
made moneys kept it, and lived thriftyand
happy The woodsssR ere then full Of
gai ., aud the rivers and. creeks aboanded
with fish. The chief vice of the time .wss
drunkenness, the enc virtue most priced
was courage. To get tipsy now and then
at militia muster or barbecue ives mat
ter of course, but to show the white feath-
or in fight involved social degrada alton
and political ruin. Soldiers of ths Revo-
luton were still living, and cory blood
was held TO be ataint and. bar to civic
honors. Party. spirit ran high, and stump
oratory was in its glory. za5-
Old Sharon meeting-house stood in the
midst of q grove Of noble oak aud hickory
trees. 1t was o plain frame house Of the
early orthodox pattern, entered by one
door in front, with a box-like pulpit in the
rear end, asd wooden seats that were
shaped more with view to saving space
than for the comfort Of the worshippers.
In the midst of the grove stood the sthorse.
blocks" for the con nvenience of the maidens
and metrone who came on horseback to
the meeting -house-the middle class be-
tween "the quality" 10 their carriages and
the tackles" who came on foot. The old
hosse-blocks at Sharon! what romances
could they tell of the brawny youths and
blooming girls in homespuu that pranced
and ambled around them on their sleek
sorrels and shining bays!
Nothing is left of Old Sharon now. Not
a vestige Of the Westinghouse remains.
The horse-blocks have rotted aud vanish
ed. A new underground has sprung up,
and the spring at the foot of the little hill
is choked with dead leaves and hidden by
bushes and clambering vines. Nothing
but memories of Old Sharon remain. The
memories! they come trooping aP sit
before the glowing CRATE this night of the
Christmas-time, and let the Enchanter
wave his magic wand and bring the dead
to life again. The Rawleys, the Patter-
sons, the Holderbys, the Nunallys, the
! Keeses, the Fitzgeralds that worshippsd
together at Old Sharon have nearly all
passed over into the mystery and silence
of the world of spirits. ga
My first school-teacher was one of these
Rawleys. He initiated me into the mys-
teries OF the alphabet, and taught me the
virtues of gum aud hickory awitehes as .
mental and moral tonic. He believed in
whipping-and especially 10 whipping me
his favorite pupil. He was good man,
the way of transQFessors was hard. The
boys OF to-day live under . milder peds.
gogical dispensation. 5sA e. za4d 81 Usai
The Patterson men, we're brawny, and
the Patterson women were pretty. One
of these Pattersons was an actor in an in
cidept that b as given his name al almost
Worldwide hotoriety. The Met Cisrneys
aud Pattsrsons lived in the same neigh.
borhood. The MoC Clarnsys, like the Pats
tersons, were stalwart and brave. Big
Tom Patterson and Big John McClarney
were the bullies Of the whole region, gi,
ants in, stature, and 70 Sampsen-liks 10
strength, d i was g. mooted question, In
the parlance Of the time, - to. which soi
the twain vas the better man. That was
the day of rougb,and;tumbles irst-fghts
when "the best man IN sueh contests waa
q hero. The two bnrly lehsmpionsa who
had respectfully vanquished ell other com,
batants who had ventured to fight, them,
had never grsti6ed- the popular curiosity
and wish by tacklipg each other. Ii VA
shrewdly suspected that neither of these
mighty men was really anxious for such
an encounter. Prowess and prudsnce are
sometimes found together. Those were
the days when the militia muster was in
its glory. Linn's Old Field. . few milel
from Old Sharon was the muster-ground
where the stump orators aired their elo
quence, where homemade corn whiske,
flowed freely, where the citizen soldierJ
executed evolutions unknown to Jomin
or Hardee, where old women sold ginger
cakes 10 the hungry and sWeet.toothei
yeomanry, and where old grudges and ex
temporaneons difference were settled il
what was called fair 6ght-wherein. th,
belligerents knocked, clinched.s bit, ant
gouged ad libitum. s1 as Aa sss
At one of these ANIMAL battalion mus
ters much whiskeY had been drunk, ana
toward the middle of the afternoon ther,
was sort of general melee during whicl
Billy Pattersen, who was half tipsyy
brother of Big Tom PstteEsoa, WAS kpoel
ed down by some unknown peTsen. Ssuni
by the insult, and half-sobered by th
blow, Billy Patterson hunted up his brotf
er, Big Tom Patterson, and appealed Z
him to discover and chastise his assailani
The hot Patterson blood wasstirred, ssel
ing an open space . little of from th
crowd, Big Tom. Patterson, brandishin
his loag arms and bringing his hug
palms togethers in stentorian tones d
manded-"Who hit Billy Patssrsoaf'o
There was no answer. Nobodg rseeme
to be disposed to take up the challenge
and no wonder. About seyen feet higl
straight, big-bonsd, sinewy, with fsts u
battering- -rams. the blaze of battle, in, h
eye, he was an ugly-looking fellow for
fight. i I.x.lsIas- I.lsxs, y,a5sz 7sf = +
"Who hit Billy Patterson % he TIM
dered With increased yehemencs; "let II
sneaking, paaillanimons car show himsel
and I'll teach him the difference betVse
fighting /, ,fnll-grown sober man An
knocking downs small one when he
drunk. Who hit Billy Patterson, i sayi